Iman Vellani Opens Up About Real-Life Friendship With Brie Larson, And How It Connects With Kamala Khan’s The Marvels Arc
"This is character development."
Kamala Khan is a Marvel superfan who found herself in the middle of the MCU alongside Brie Larson’s Captain Marvel, Teyonah Parris’ Monica Rambeau and Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury thanks to some super circumstances. Iman Vellani is also a hardcore fan. The 21-year-old actress just entered the Marvel big leagues as one of the stars of The Marvels, and she spoke with CinemaBlend about what it’s like to know Brie Larson IRL.
Vellani told CinemaBlend she’s still pinching herself over being a “hometown hero” of Markham, the small suburban town outside of Toronto. Ahead of The Marvels premiere last week, her friends and family turned up to an early screening of the movie and sent her photos of themselves next to the Marvel logo. She calls her parents her “biggest promoters,” and she can call Brie Larson a true friend. Here’s what she told us:
Much like Kamala Khan, Iman Vellani is noticing a change in herself as she looks Marvel fame in the face. She’s actual friends with Brie Larson now and she sees her as the human that she is. As Vellani continued:
Unlike many Marvel actors, Vellani’s first time on a set was on Ms. Marvel, followed by The Marvels. She’s had a larger-than-life debut role in Hollywood, and she’s come to a point where she’s no longer necessarily putting people like Larson, Kevin Feige or Samuel L. Jackson on a pedestal anymore because they are colleagues of hers with whom she’s spent a sizable amount of time.
After The Marvels flipped from “rotten” to “fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie had the weakest opening weekend for a Marvel movie to date. When Vellani was asked about the movie’s box office, the actress said that she was not focused on that because it’s “not even in my control” and “for Bob Iger” to worry about.
Vellani didn’t get the chance to see the movie on the big screen with fans when it premiered because when The Marvels first screened, the SAG-AFTRA actors strike was in its final days. The actress said she geeked out about the movie’s great scenes, including the exciting end credits scene, from a laptop in her room. Following The Marvels ending, Iman Vellani’s Kamala Khan certainly has a bright future ahead of her, and here’s hoping she and Brie Larson will continue to share the screen in upcoming Marvel movies.
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Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.